The Empress rules!

Super Star Asian may rate as the Best Dim Sum in Denver, but according to Chinese Restaurant News magazine, the Empress Dim Sum Seafood Restaurant -- a more upscale, white-tablecloth joint located nearby at 2825 West Alameda Avenue -- ranks as the sixth-best Chinese restaurant in America, far ahead of Super Star.

But Super Star did rate a spot on the magazine's list of top regional Chinese cuisines, as did China Jade in Aurora. Other Colorado restaurants that made the magazine's list last month: Saigon Landing in Evergreen, Canton Palace in Loveland and Hunan Imperial in Evans. That's right, Evans.

By the way, the Empress is also a great place to throw a karaoke birthday.

Patricia Calhoun co-founded Westword in 1977; she’s been the editor ever since. She’s a regular on the weekly CPT12 roundtable Colorado Inside Out, played a real journalist in John Sayles’s Silver City, once interviewed President Bill Clinton while wearing flip-flops, and has been honored with numerous national awards for her columns and feature-writing.